Home for Good?

Challenges of return and reintegration

FMR 21

September 2004

This FMR’s feature section on the return and reintegration of people displaced by conflict or violations of their human rights outlines some of the many challenges that they face when making their decision to return. It also highlights some of the many strategies employed by the authorities or agencies supporting the displaced in order to ensure that return occurs in safety and dignity and that reintegration and recovery are sustainable.

Contents

This special FMR issue on the return and reintegration of people displaced by conflict or violations of their human rights outlines some of the many challenges that they face when making their decision to return. It also highlights some of the many strategies employed by the authorities or agencies supporting the displaced in order to ensure that return occurs in safety and dignity and that reintegration and recovery are sustainable.

As Sudan's peace process inches forward, the spontaneous return of people displaced by the 21 year-long civil war and the demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration of combatants pose unprecedented reintegration challenges.

Property restitution is central to the successful return and reintegration of both refugees and IDPs. Without it, perceptions of injustice are perpetuated and underlying conflicts remain unresolved. (1)

A human-rights based approach to post-conflict property restitution is likely to produce results that are more consistent, fair, effective and sustainable than those based purely on the 'right to return'.

In Colombia, as in many conflict and post-conflict states, the presence, or suspected presence, of landmines and UXO is one of the main obstacles to ensuring a safe and secure environment for returnees. A vigilant approach and greater coordination are needed.

Since the Dayton Peace Accords of December 1995 ended three and a half years of conflict, UNDP has worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to facilitate return of displaced people, consolidate peace and lay the basis for long-term development.

Analysis of how the international community provided uncritical support for Rwanda's controversial villagisation policy highlights the need to improve protection for resettling IDPs, think more seriously about sustainable integration and improve inter-agency cooperation.

The Burundi government and the international community have failed to recognise the scale of the problems to be overcome in order to ensure the sustainable return and resettlement of refugees and IDPs.

The People to People Peace Process, an initiative of the New Sudan Council of Churches, has been using traditional methods of conflict resolution to secure sustainable peace, return and integration for people caught up in the fighting which has devastated southern Sudan.

An evaluation of recent UNICEF support to child disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) in southern Sudan analyses the impact of different ways of addressing demobilisation, care, return and reintegration of 'children formerly associated with the fighting forces' (CAFF).

Microanalyis of intra-household decision making and movement patterns of a segment of Uzbek IDP households in Afghanistan facilitates a better understanding of how complex migration processes are shaped by social, political and economic factors.

As the Indonesian government develops appropriate policies to address IDP needs and prevent future displacement, UNDP's work in the region has highlighted a number of challenges to be faced and lessons to be learned.

In the early 1990s Cambodia was fractured by violence, lack of social trust and deep suspicion of government. From origins as a post-conflict refugee/IDP repatriation and resettlement scheme, the CARERE programme has evolved into a unique development process which mobilises local and international actors to tackle poverty and promote good governance in rural Cambodia.

The Merowe Dam, now under construction on the Nile in northern Sudan, is a huge and controversial project that promises intensified social unrest and misery for the tens of thousands it will forcibly displace.

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